Machines are known which are used for washing containers of liquids, such as but not only, bottles, feeding bottles, watering troughs or others, used for feeding animals, such as for example guinea pigs or laboratory rodents or others.
It is known that, before washing, the containers are closed by suitable lids, or capsules; the lids are shaped with a lip to allow the animal to consume the liquid contained in the container, and the containers must be provided at the end of washing closed and filled with new liquid.
It is known to provide machines for washing the containers, which are structured with a support frame provided with a base resting on the ground and with a plurality of operating stations disposed in line with respect to each other, including a loading station for the closed containers, a station for removing the capsules from the containers, or de-lidding station, a washing station, a filling station and one to re-close the containers which have been washed and filled, by means of said capsules.
In the known machines, except for the washing station, in which the containers are closed in a washing chamber and undergo predetermined automated washing and rinsing steps, the remaining stations need considerable manual interventions and attention from the operators, in particular for loading, for positioning the containers in the filling station and for re-closing with the lids the containers which have been washed and filled.
These manual operations entail an increase in the overall times of the whole process of washing and filling the containers, as well as the need to employ different operators for the same machine, with a consequent increase in management costs.
Furthermore, the manual intervention may not always be precise and repeatable and may entail the risk of accidents for the operators.
It is also known to dispose and group together a plurality of containers in suitable washing baskets, so as to hold the containers in a desired disposition during all the operating steps of the machine.
It is also known to provide that the baskets define a plurality of containing cells for the containers, conformed to prevent the accidental exit of the containers from the basket, so as to be able to provide the upending of the basket inside the washing chamber, for example to facilitate dripping after the washing and rinsing step.
One of the manual operations which most entails an increase in the times and management costs of known machines is the step of re-closing the washed containers with the lids.
The lids are normally constrained in an air-tight manner to the containers, by means of suitable pneumatic positioners, associated with the re-closing station. In this station the lids are removed by the operator one at a time from a relative containing box and are then temporarily attached to the positioner, and are then constrained, one at a time or in small groups, to the containers.
In different known solutions, the operations of removing the lids from the basket, positioning them and temporarily attaching them to the positioner, and also constraining them to the containers, are carried out manually with a consequent increase in times and costs of management of the machine, and possible inaccuracies.
Solutions are also known in which at least the positioning and the temporary attachment of the lids to the positioner at least occur in a guided manner. Nevertheless, manual intervention by the operator is needed in order to move the positioner, to constrain the lids to the containers, as well as to remove the lids.
A device for filling and closing containers is known and described in the US patent application US-A-2003/0056466.
One purpose of the present invention is to produce a machine, and perfect a method, which allows to remove the lids or capsules, to wash, fill and re-close the containers in a simple, economic and efficient way, in a substantially automated manner and reducing to a minimum the manual interventions of the operators.
Another purpose of the present invention is to perfect a device which allows to load the lids of the containers reducing the execution time to a minimum and providing in an automated way all the operations needed for this operation
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.